CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Chinese battery manufacturer BYD, which is readying a line of all-electric vehicles, plans to introduce a home energy suite that includes solar panels and batteries.

BYD, which gained prominence in the U.S. when Warren Buffet invested in the company, plans to start testing its all-electric e6 sedan in the U.S. later this year, said Michael Austin, vice president of BYD America.

High-volume auto battery manufacturing helps the company's entry into home energy products by bringing costs down, he said here on Monday at the Lux Executive Summit during a panel on energy storage. BYD plans to supply solar panels, battery packs, car charging pedestals, efficient LED lighting, and inverters to manage energy flow within a home, Austin said.

"The vehicle market is driving scale for the energy market and we're already well below $500 per kilowatt-hour (for batteries)," he said. BYD electric cars will have a range of about 250 miles, he added.

So far, many of these property assessed clean energy financing (PACE) programs have run out of money, but Austin said BYD expects it can work when backed by commercial banks. The company plans to introduce its home energy line in China this year, he added.

The 15-year-old company started out making batteries and other components for consumer electronics, such as cell phones. Now, as many companies push into electric vehicles, BYD advertises battery prices significantly lower than other companies, which it expects will drive adoption of all-electric cars.

During the panel discussion, Lux analysts projected that auto battery pack costs will decline from about $900 per kilowatt-hour to about $500 per kilowatt-hour in the next 10 years, which is a target that many auto companies say is necessary to make electric vehicles more accessible.

BYD's manufacturing costs and battery technology allow it to achieve that level now, Austin said. One downside of iron phosphate battery chemistry, compared to lithium ion, is that battery packs cannot store as much energy per volume, he said.

BYD has also designed grid storage units that can store power made at off-peak times for local distribution. An 800-kilowatt system, which fits into a tractor trailer, costs $450,000, Austin said.

BYD is relatively new to the U.S. market, so even though its stated prices are low, it's hard to compare its actual products to other manufacturers, one analyst said.

About the author

Martin LaMonica is a senior writer covering green tech and cutting-edge technologies. He joined CNET in 2002 to cover enterprise IT and Web development and was previously executive editor of IT publication InfoWorld.
See full bio